| Michael V. Drake |
2020-25 |
| Janet Napolitano |
2013-20 |
| Mark G. Yudof |
2008-13 |
| Robert C. Dynes |
2003-08 |
| Richard C. Atkinson |
1995-2003 |
| J. W. Peltason |
1992-95 |
| David P. Gardner |
1983-92 |
| David S. Saxon |
1975-83 |
| Charles J. Hitch |
1968-75 |
| Harry R. Wellman (acting president) |
1967 |
| Clark Kerr |
1958-67 |
| Robert Gordon Sproul |
1930-58 |
| William Wallace Campbell |
1923-30 |
| David Prescott Barrows |
1919-23 |
| Benjamin Ide Wheeler |
1899-1919 |
| Martin Kellogg |
1893-99 |
| Martin Kellogg (acting president) |
1890-93 |
| Horace Davis |
1888-90 |
| Edward S. Holden |
1885-88 |
| W.T. Reid |
1881-85 |
| John LeConte |
1876-81 |
| Daniel Coit Gilman |
1872-75 |
| Henry Durant |
1870-72 |
| John LeConte (acting president) |
1869-70 |
